Meerut beauty queen held for murdering parents

Meerut, Nov 18: Priyanka, ex-beauty queen of Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) was held on Monday, Nov 17 by the Meerut police on charges of murdering her parents. Priyanka along with her friend Anju was arrested in connection with the murder of Priyanka"s parents, retired Junior Engineer (JE) Prem Veer and his wife Santosh on Nov 11.

Police also seized fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) worth over Rs 6 lakh, Rs 50,000 in cash and the official will of her father which was executed in the name of his son Gaurav, from Priyanka. Priyanka claimed that she was always looked down by her family. "My father and brother always accused me of being my mother"s illegitimate child. There were times when I was ill, but forced to carry out daily kitchen chores and thrashed black and blue for even small mistakes," sobbing Priyanka said to media.

After completing her schooling from JP Academy in Meerut, Priyanka graduates from Indian Institute of Fashion Technology in 2002. She won the Miss Meerut contest in 2005. It was at this time she met a youth who worked as a senior executive with a multi-national company of electronic goods. "But even he used me and disappeared," Priyanka said.

Ditched by her boyfriend and ill-treated by her own family, Priyanka shifted to Government Girls" Polytechnic in South Delhi in 2006 where she met Anju, her hostel mate from Amroha in Jyotibaphule Nagar.

Anju too was rejected by her family because she was a girl. Rakesh Jolly the Additional SP of Meerut said to media that this feeling of rejection created a strong bond between the two girls. Anju told to police that she was an unwanted child of the family. She was even raped by her uncle. "But when I said this to my parents, they held me responsible for it," Anju said.

According to Anju, her father Shankerpal was a bank officer and was murdered allegedly at the instance of her uncle for the sake of property. "My uncle then married my mother and I was shunted out when I was barely 15," She said.

Priyanka told to Police that she along with Anju went to meet her mother on Nov 10. She had a fight with her mother and subequently strangled her. "She tried to grab me by hair and in a reflex I caught her by neck. But the moment I saw her bleeding from the nose, I turned numb. We hurriedly applied some ointment on her nose to stop the bleeding," said Priyanka.

Meanwhile her father arrived and finding his wife bleeding, raised an alarm. Priyanka and Anju tried to gag him but he died in the process. "I was peeved over my father"s decision to give away everything to my brother Gaurav who is pursuing his career in Bangalore and my elder sister who is married and settled elsewhere. So I searched for my father"s will and in the process came across the FDRs and cash which we pocketed," Priyanka added.